


Lots of talk: A how they met story

by lunchbuddy



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 05:12:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12028854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunchbuddy/pseuds/lunchbuddy
Summary: A short telling of how Jocelyn and Maggie met.  Set 15 years before the show.  Taking place in part on the cliffs of Broadchurch (where the story always starts it seems).  Includes banter, although less skillfully written then the folks at ITV gave us.





	Lots of talk: A how they met story

Jocelyn and her mother were bringing the dishes from breakfast in from the porch. Veronica put down down the plates she was carrying, as Jocelyn started washing up. “The Echo has a new editor now. Took them a while to find someone. Her editorials are a bit cerebral for my taste, but this week’s reminded me of you. I left the paper for you, to have a look..” They switched places, Jocelyn drying her hands and picking the paper off the counter and started to read. Veronica kept talking as she washed up. “Seems like a nice woman though. Your age. Moved here alone. She had put an offer in on that house you bought, but you outbid her.” Jocelyn nodded to show her mom she was listening as se read the editorial. “Or at least that is what Carol’s daughter-in-law said, so you have to take that with a grain of salt. Carol’s taken quite a shining to her though since she subbed in for Maryl at bridge and the beat Luisa and I for the first time in 4 months. She’s a good player, Maggie is. Not Carol, but I’ve told you that before. I don’t know how Carol found out she played bridge. But that is Carol for you. Anyway she seems a nice enough type, she stopped up for a visit last week, asking questions for some story. I couldn’t help her much. But I asked her about her about her family and that is how I found out that she was single. From up north but had moved around a lot since leaving home. She found a place close to town she’s renting now. But for a blown in I was impressed she had even considered buying. I don’t know why you needed to buy your own house you know you could stay here, like you always have.” Veronica sighed taking a breath for the first time in five minutes. It seemed to Jocelyn that this was where their conversations ended up ever since she bought the house. She smiled at the predictability of it all.  
“You know why it is because you talk too much” Jocelyn said kissing her mother’s cheek folding the paper and leaning back on the counter. “Well she is a good writer, if a bit idealistic.” She gathered her coat. “I’ll be back to make dinner at 6 and don’t you start without me.”

Jocelyn decided to leave the rest of her to do list for tomorrow. It was an endless list so it didn’t really matter and she had crossed off 3 things today. She gathered her coat and a copy of Atonement, the novel she’d started reading on her way down and headed out to walk along the cliffs. This was the reason she’d bought this house.It was nestled in the cliff and the hills. As a girl the cliffs were where she’d play and now as an adult they were the place she rested, still the place she most wanted to be. There was nowhere as beautiful in England she was sure. She headed up the hill breathing in the salt air. She had walked 20 minutes when she reached the bench that was her destination. She sat and began to read. 

Maggie left the office at 2. She had promised herself that she would still enjoy her weekend even if the newspaper had eaten half of it already the way it did most of her evenings this week as well. She needed a rest. She stopped off at the flat she was renting, and made a pot of tea. Tired of sitting indoors she poured into a thermos. Maggie grabbed her book off her nightstand stuffing it and the thermos in a nearby tote, pulled on a thick sweater and headed to the bluffs for a walk. She hadn’t made it to all the spots people in town were always suggesting. Everyone seemed to have a favorite spot. All different and all breathtaking. Maggie walked up to the top of the cliffs and followed the path as that traced the drop’s edge. 

“Do you think Briony is really to blame?” The words startled Jocelyn. She looked over at a woman she had never seen before. “In the book, I mean” she said pointing. Then digging around in the bag she was carrying she pulled out a copy of the same book that sat in Jocelyn’s hands.  
“That is the thing that I can’t stop wrestling with. She holds herself so entirely accountable for Robbie’s arrest, but what about all the others that could have stepped in? She wasn’t the one that raped Lola. He is the one who the blame ultimately belongs to.” At this point Maggie had sat next to Jocelyn on the bench.  
Catching on Jocelyn said “Well she did falsely accuse him. She lied when she said she saw him.”  
“Sure but girl has been raped, and the focus of the narrative is not on the guilt, and remorse of the rapist but of a child who witnessed it. She takes on the guilt of her mistake but does he? No he marries the child he raped!” Maggie’s voice raised with passion. An amused smile passed on Jocelyn’s face as she considers this woman who has just joined her on her bench where she intended to spend a quiet afternoon.  
“Isn’t that the way it goes?” Maggie continued “That guilt doesn’t stick to men? Briony was wrong to identify Robbie. But she is not the rapist in the story, and yet here she is trying to atone for her mistake her whole life, while Paul shows no remorse and is unquestioned when he marries the girl he raped. And the absurdity of her pursuit to make up for it goes unquestioned?”  
“She committed a felony, and sent an innocent man to jail, robbing him of his freedom, and robbing her sister of her lover. I think there is enough guilt for the both of them.” Jocelyn said in a metered tone, considering the argument made.  
“Yes. But the author doesn’t question that she is the guilty one, even though she was not the one who raped Lola. And because Briony’s guilt is not assigned in a court of law there is no end to her sentence she will just keep trying to atone for it.”  
“Do you not think that falsely accusing someone and taking years of a man’s life, and rape are both crimes against another person?” Jocelyn pressed.  
“This isn’t a point of law. It is a question of how society and family gives blame, and always finds a way to place it on a woman.”  
“Well I guess I don’t have to finish the book now” Jocelyn said closing it on her lap.  
The gusto left Maggie as quickly as it came. “Sorry, I mean I haven’t finished it myself yet. I really didn’t mean to spoil it for you.” Maggie said realizing now that she had interrupted this woman’s afternoon. Maggie leaned over pulling out the thermos she’d packed and poured a cup into the cap handing it to Jocelyn without asking. Tea was better than an apology.  
“I don’t mind.” Jocelyn smiled, offering her hand “I’m Jocelyn Knight. Are you here on holiday?”  
“Maggie Radcliffe. No holliday. I’m the editor of the Echo.”  
Maggie considered the face before her now. Jocelyn eyes were bright shadowed by the strong lines that shaped her face and hid her somehow. She was long too. All of her. Her nose, her fingers laying across her book. Her legs, and arms long straight lines wrapped around her. She was beautiful. Maggie was surprised that she hadn’t noticed sooner.  
“Knight. Veronica’s daughter? The lawyer? Well that explains you point of view.” Maggie’s eyebrow shooting up.  
“It may explain it. But it also validates it.” She smirked. “Now before you go thinking you have all the facts from whatever you heard around town, or from my mother for that matter, think twice, because I spent the morning getting an earful about you.”  
“Local news at its finest. Really I am rather unnecessary.” Maggie leaned back against the bench. Smiling imaging what exactly Veronica had found interesting enough to share. Maggie looked over and saw a smile at the corner of Jocelyn’s mouth.  
“I’ve come to like it here quite a lot. I can’t think of a more beautiful place I’ve seen in England than the view from any spot in Broadchurch.”  
“I quite agree.” Although as she said it Jocelyn’s eyes were on Maggie. Maybe it was the light from the setting sun, but there was a warmth in Maggie’s face and in her sincerity as she talked about Broadchurch and even as she fought for her opinion of the book. The sun reflected off the highlights in her hair till it shimmered moving the light all around her face holding it there. There was warmth in her skin too, tanned and soft looking as it peeked out where she had stopped buttoning her shirt. This woman was made of light.  
They sat silently, as the sun set. “Damn”, Jocelyn said. “I told my mom I’d come by at 6 to make her dinner, and it is past 6 now.” She hesitated after rushing to stand handing back the now empty mug. She wanted to apologize for leaving but not sure what to say since it wasn’t as if she was breaking a commitment.  
“Go” said Maggie. “Now I get this view to myself. Which is only fair since you took my house” She smiled playfully, as she closed her eyes and stretched out over the bench, her head thrown back soaking in the last of the light. Jocelyn turned back starring as Maggie eyes still closed smiled and her chest heaved with a contented sigh.  
Jocelyn walked quickly to her mother’s house back towards town. As she walked she realized that she was reluctant to leave Maggie’s company, it wasn’t very often that she got to have impassioned debates about books with anyone or that there was anyone who she’d prefer talking to then reading said book. But it was more than just intellectual stimulation she got plenty of that in the courtroom there was just something special about Maggie. 

Maggie sat at her desk the following Monday. Her mind wandering back to Jocelyn Knight. Jocelyn was beautiful and by far the smartest person she met since coming to Broadchurch. It was just a shame she was here so little. She wondered when she’d be in town again and how to ask Veronica without showing her affection too much.  
Maggie was interrupted from her musing by Connie. “Mags, how do we set up delivery for a subscription to London?”  
“London? Who in London wants our copy?”  
“Jocelyn Knight. She called. She said she’d pay an extra delivery charge. But I don’t think we do that do we? Seems a bit much.”  
“I can take care of it. Just leave me the address, and process the payment adding a dollar for the postage.” Maggie turned back to her desk as Connie left.  
She waited almost minute before taking the scrap paper with Jocelyn’s address in her hands. She smiled at it. Then she tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and began writing. When she was finished she folded the sheet of paper, and grabbed a copy of last Friday’s edition slipping the note in front of the editorial at the back. 

A few days later, a letter arrived for Maggie to the Echo. Maggie smiled as she read through the critiques, cringing only when Jocelyn pointed out spelling error in one of the adverts.


End file.
